Imagine it: at tomorrow’s “special event” in Cupertino tomorrow, Apple CEO Tim Cook takes the stage and–after announcing the iPhone 6 and the breathlessly awaited iWatch–turns to the audience and says: “Oh, and one more thing ….” Then he pulls a pair of slick, white spectacles out of a velvety bag and says, “we’re also coming out[…]

When it comes to building an IP portfolio, patents aren’t the only–or even necessarily the most important–ingredient. I am consistently surprised by the number of software startups who spend their last nickel on patent applications, but never even consider dropping $35 to register a copyright. The fact is that copyright registration offers many of the same[…]

Every once in awhile, you stumble across something that makes you say, “how did I not realize this existed?” or “I wish I would’ve found this years ago!” Field Agent made me say both of those things. This service has existed for four years, but I somehow just learned of it. This service is designed[…]

I’m writing from the Mid-Winter Institute of the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA). As a lawyer who does a lot of trademark enforcement work, one theme that I’ve noticed from multiple speakers so far is the importance of proactively protecting your intellectual property–especially for young companies. What’s more, in this increasingly globalized marketplace, simply[…]

My latest article, “IP in an Augmented Reality,” was just published in the Jan/Feb 2014 issue of Landslide, the magazine of the American Bar Association’s IP Section. It summarizes how copyright, patent, trademark, and publicity rights law will apply to AR technologies. An excerpt is below. Click here to read the full article on the[…]

In October and December 2011, I wrote about the extensive number of AR-related patent applications already on file. “If you’re serious about succeeding with your AR business plan–and especially if you hope to attract investors,” I said, “it would be well worth your time to research the existing patent landscape in your field, and get your[…]

Earlier this month I presented to the Michigan Intellectual Property Lawyer’s Association on “IP in an Augmented Reality.” This speech is similar to ones I’ve given to IP groups elsewhere in the country. In it, I discuss what augmented reality is, how it will affect our everyday activities in almost every facet of life, and[…]

Back in July 2012, I reported on what appeared to be the first augmented reality patent infringement lawsuit: Tomita v. Nintendo. That case has since gone to trial, with some interesting results. Plaintiff Tomita U.S. Patent No. 7,417,664, issued in August 2008 and titled “Stereoscopic image picking up and display system based upon optical axes cross-point information.”[…]

Thursday night I was privileged to be part of a panel–together with Brian Mullins of daqri, Brian Bos of Mindshare, and Marty Wetherall of Fallon–presenting on augmented reality to the AdCraft Club of Detroit. As the lawyer on the panel, many of the questions I fielded dealt with the legal issues that are likely to[…]

In the comedy classic Dumb & Dumber, a woman tells Jim Carrey’s character that his chances with her are “one in a million.” Undaunted, he responds, “so you’re saying there’s a chance!” The augmented reality industry’s chances of seeing the patent that Lennon Image Technologies has been using for the past year to wreak havoc[…]

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Wassom.com is a forum for discussion and commentary on the law of social media and other new and emerging forms of expression.

As for me, I'm Brian D. Wassom, a commercial litigator in Southeast Michigan whose practice focuses on copyright, trademark, publicity rights, media law, and related subject matter. I'm a partner and the chair of the Social, Mobile and Emerging Media Practice Group at the law firm Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP, but on this site I speak for myself alone, not for Honigman or its clients.

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